Red Bull TV iPhone app a smörgåsbord of extreme sports

I must say, I did not expect this effort from the free Red Bull TV iPhone app. I remember it was not so long ago I was a teenager watching cable sports channels that would run extreme sports compilations which might as well have been called, “Look at all these crashes!” as I wondered what the […]

I must say, I did not expect this effort from the free Red Bull TV iPhone app. I remember it was not so long ago I was a teenager watching cable sports channels that would run extreme sports compilations which might as well have been called, “Look at all these crashes!” as I wondered what the point of it all was.

Not that I didn’t understand extreme sports, but never being a fan of NBA dunk compilations, or really anything where the context of the moment is completely removed, I didn’t really get the idea.

The Red Bull TV app doesn’t exactly provide the entire spectrum of extreme sports events on your iPhone, but it does a whole lot more than just throw a random highlight package at you.

This stellar app provides you with a ton of short video clips, edited down to the crucial elements, of various extreme sports. But there is narrative to these clips. They’re not all wacky spills or impressive jumps; rather, they’re like music videos, telling the story of a particular event so you can move on to the next clip.

The video quality on the archived footage is fantastic, and the live feed holds its own as well. Yes, there is a “live feed” that broadcasts specific programs on the Red Bull TV Channel, but if you’re a control freak like me and want to be more hands-on in your viewing experience, you can also view videos by most viewed, highest rated, as well as by the categories of the sport they belong to.

Red Bull TV provides a tremendous level of user customization, and could be used as a guide to other video on-demand services. While I would prefer an option to fast forward through parts of certain videos, it’s not the worst omission an app has ever seen.

There is just a wild amount of content on Red Bull TV, especially for a free app. If the developers were somehow able to leverage a few full-length events for download, that might even make this worth paying for. But even without the option, this is a very well put together app for fans of the extreme sports genre.

Dan Kricke has been playing with electronics and writing about them for years. He loved his Sega Dreamcast and now the PlayStation 3. On the iPhone, he's a fan of sports apps and anything that offers new music.